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Asian Football Confederation
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football in Asia and Australia. It has 47 member countries, mostly located in the Asia and Australia continent, but excludes the transcontinental countries - Azerbaijian, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey - both of which are in the UEFA. Three other states that are located along the western fringe of Asia - Cyprus, Armenia and Israel - are also UEFA members. Guam, part of the territory of the United States, is also part of the AFC. Hong Kong and Macau, although they are special administrative regions (SAR), they are also part of the AFC. The AFC Asian Cups are as follows: *1984: Singapore *2007: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam *2011: Qatar *2015: Australia *2019: United Arab Emirates Hosts of AFC Asian Cup 2007 AFC Asian Cup Before 2007 and every four years, Asia often held its continental tournament until China in 2004. With the Summer Olympic Games and European Championship also held at the same year as Asian Cup, the AFC changed the tradition. Beginning from 2007, Asia will hold its continental tournament a year earlier, and every four years from this date. The bids are Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, and are known to be co-hosting since 2005. In June 2005, the AFC warned Thailand that it needed to improve its facilities before 2007, otherwise it would be dropped, possibly being replaced with Singapore. On 12 August of the same year, the AFC confirmed that Thailand would be a co-host of the 2007 Asian Cup. However, in October 2006, Thailand was again wanted to improve the facilities for 90 days. The stadiums are: *Kuala Lumpur (Bukit Jalil National Stadium) *Shah Alam (Shah Alam Stadium) The qualification round ran from 22 February 2006 to 15 November 2006. For the first time, the defending champions (in this tournament, Japan) did not get an automatic qualification and had to play in the qualification. Twenty-four nations were split into six four-team groups for 12 remaining spots in the finals. The four co-hosts – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam – were granted automatic qualification. Pakistan is added back into the final qualifying round after Sri Lanka withdrew at the last minute. Lebanon officially withdrew from the competition on 1 August 2006 after having played only one match, due to conflicts with Israel. The game was only played between Lebanon and Kuwait, which is only 1 vs. 1 and the results have been declared null and void, and do not count towards the group rankings. The following fixtures were cancelled: *against Bahrain, 16 August 2006 *against Australia, 31 August 2006 *against Bahrain, 6 September 2006 *against Kuwait, 11 October 2006 *against Australia, 15 November 2006 2011 AFC Asian Cup Qatar, India and Iran are interested in the bidding of AFC Asian Cup, but Australia is considering making the late bid after the admission in 2006. Qatar officially submitted their bid on 19 June 2006, while India withdrew the interest and Iran failing to submit proper documentation for their bid on the time. Qatar was announced as a host nation on 29 July 2007. 2015 AFC Asian Cup Australia initially put forward the bid to host the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in 2010 after the revitalisation. As the sole bidder, Australia was officially named the host on 5 January 2011. The stadiums are - *Frankfurt Stadium *Wei Tang Stadium *Ashford Stadium *Stourbridge Stadium 2019 AFC Asian Cup On 10 April 2013, the Football Association of Malaysia announced its bid to host the 2019 AFC Asian Cup with the general secretary saying that the country already had the necessary infrastructure to host the event. Malaysia had previously hosted the event in 2007 along with Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. 5 cities had sent their requests to AFC, which is Bangkok. The tournament will be expanded from 16 teams to 24 teams, similar to UEFA. 2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship in Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The tournament will involve 24 teams including the host nation, assuming that the current format of the finals were maintained. The bidding process has begun and they have invited China, South Korea and India. Thailand had previously hosted and on 21 July 2017, AFC had notified the decision to withdraw from bidding in both Indonesia and Thailand. AFC also accepted Indonesia as a sole bidder in 12 April 2016. Teams qualified for FIFA World Cup *1938: Indonesia (once) *1954: South Korea *1966: North Korea *1970: Israel *1974: Australia (under OFC) *1978: Iran *1982: Kuwait *1986: Iraq *1990: United Arab Emirates *1994: Saudi Arabia *1998: Japan *2002: China PR *2022: Qatar Pre-1970s Indonesia was the first Asian team to participate in the FIFA World Cup when the team qualified for the 1938 tournament after its opponent Japan, withdrew from the qualification heats, before the independence in 1945. Burma, Philippines and Indonesia withdrew before the draw, so India qualified automatically in 1950. India later also withdrew because of the expense of travelling (or, according to some reports, after a FIFA ruling that players were not allowed to play barefoot). Other teams economised by sailing, rather than flying, to the tournament. FIFA decided not to invite another team, leaving the World Cup three teams short. The Asian zone was allocated one place (out of 16) in the final tournament. In the 1954 World Cup qualification, three countries from the AFC participated. South Korea had won for the first time in the 1954 FIFA World Cup. At the 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification, FIFA rejected South Korea's entry. Qualifications are held with Africa, with Turkey, Cyprus and China withdrew from the first qualification round. Indonesia and Egypt in the second. Sudan withdrew from the first qualification round as they refused to play against Israel for political reasons. Israel technically would have qualified automatically, but before the qualification rounds began, FIFA ruled that no team would qualify without playing at least one match (except for the defending champions and the hosts), and Israel had yet to play any. A special play-off was created between Israel and one of the runner-up in the UEFA Groups where the teams played against each other on a home-to-away basis, with the winner qualified. After Belgium refused, Wales, the runner up of Group 4, was the team drawn from the UEFA group runners-up. Israel lost both times 0-2 and did not reach the 1958 FIFA World Cup. There was only one round of play in the 1962 FIFA World Cup qualification. The three teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner will advance to the AFC/UEFA intercontinental play-off. Indonesia withdrew. South Korea won twice against Japan and advanced to the UEFA/AFC intercontinental play-off. South Korea lost both times against Yugoslavia and did not reach the World Cup. AFC, CAF and OFC confederations had competed together in the qualification rounds of 1966. After having no teams from Africa and Asia qualifying from the previous two World Cups, FIFA decided to allocate a single spot to the winner of the four-way play-off between the winners of three African groups and the winner of the Asian zone. South Africa was suspended by FIFA due to the apartheid. All 15 remaining African teams withdrew in protest against there being no automatic qualification for an African team, leaving the AFC-OFC team to qualify by default. Japan withdrew because the three-team tournament was moved from Japan to Cambodia, leaving only Australia and North Korea to qualify for the final place. Because the North Korea lacked diplomatic missions with most countries, finding the suitable venue was difficult until Norodom Sihanouk, agreed to hosting the matches in Phnom Penh. North Korea could easily win both legs to qualify. 1970s The 1970 AFC and OFC qualification were held together. Israel, New Zealand and Rhodesia received byes and advanced to the second round directly. The remaining three teams, Australia, Japan and South Korea, played against each other twice against South Korea. Australia advanced to the second round Group 1 and won over Rhodesia and advanced to the final round. In Group 2, Israel advanced to the final round where they defeated New Zealand twice. North Korea refused to play with Israel and withdrew. In the final round, Israel defeated Australia 2-1 and entered the World Cup. Israel qualified for their only World Cup to date as an Asian team. Soon after this, however, they left the Asian Football Confederation, and now compete in the European zone as they are now a member of UEFA. As of 2018, this is the only Israel's final appearance. In 1974, the Asia and Oceania zone competed for one place in the FIFA World Cup. India, Sri Lanka and Philippines withdrew before the matches were played. The remaining 15 teams were divided into two zones. Zone A have 7 teams, where it is East Asia as well as Israel. All matches were played to the Republic of Korea. Zone B had 8 teams, teams from the West Asia, including Indonesia and North Korea. South Korea had won Zone A and Australia had won Zone B. In the final round, South Korea and Australia were tied 2-2 on aggregate and play-off on neutral ground at Hong Kong was played to decide on the qualifier. In 1978, a total of the 21 AFC and OFC teams entered the competition. However, South Vietnam could not compete after being annexed by Vietnam. The Asian zone was given one place out of 16 for the final tournament. The 21 teams would be divided into 5 groups. Sri Lanka, North Korea, Iraq and United Arab Emirates withdrew. Hong Kong, South Korea, Iran, Kuwait and Australia won the group. 1982 FIFA World Cup A total of 21 AFC and OFC teams entered the competition. Iran withdrew before the draw was made. The Asian and Oceanian zone was allocated two places (out of 24) in the final tournament. The remaining 20 teams will be divided into four groups. New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and China PR advanced to the Final Round. In the Final Round, Kuwait ranked first place and immediately qualified to the World Cup. China PR and New Zealand finished level on points and goal difference, and a play-off on neutral ground (Singapore) was played to decide the qualifier. Kuwait had won 2-1 and qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time. 1986 FIFA World Cup A total of 27 AFC teams entered the competition. The Asian zone was allocated two places (out of 24) in the final tournament. Teams were divided into two zones, based on geographical considerations. Zone A had 13 teams (teams from West Asia) and Zone B had 14 teams (teams from East Asia). Lebanon and Oman withdrew. Iran disqualified. In the end, Iraq and South Korea won. 1990 FIFA World Cup A total of 26 teams were in the running of these spots, Bahrain, India, Mauritus and South Yemen withdrew without playing a qualifying match. The Maldives withdrew before the final draw, leaving 25 teams to be divided into six groups of four or five teams each. South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and North Korea advanced to the final round. Only South Korea and United Arab Emirates qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, taking these two places. 1994 FIFA World Cup A total of 30 teams entered the qualification. The Asian zone was allocated two places (out of 24) in the final tournament. The 30 teams were divided into six groups of five teams each, although Myanmar and Nepal were withdrawn after playing no match. 1998 FIFA World Cup A total of 36 teams entered the competition. 2002 FIFA World Cup South Korea and Japan were selected as hosts on 31 May 1996. Initially, South Korea, Japan and Mexico presented three rival bids. But the two Asian countries agreed to unite the bids shortly before the decision was made and they were chosen unanimously to Mexico. This was the first (and the only) FIFA World Cup to be hold jointly between two countries. South Korea and Japan, the co-hosts, qualified automatically, leaving 2.5 spots open for competition between 40 teams. Myanmar withdrew from the tournament after being placed in Group 2 but before any matches were played, thus matches were reduced to three teams. Afghanistan, Bhutan, North Korea and Timor-Leste had not been participating in the qualification process. The two remaining automatic qualifying erths are Saudi Arabia and China PR. Iran failed to become the third representative in the World Cup after losing the AFC/UEFA play-off to Republic of Ireland.